Almaty Mayor Bakytzhan Sagintayev explained that the security forces during the riots were unable to respond, because they were armed with only batons and shields, and there were no combat weapons. The words of the head of the city leads RBC.
“Most of them without anything in their hands. Applied noise grenades to drive away. Everything. The other was not on their hands,” he noted.
Mayor also noted that the attackers on the security forces “went to fight.” He called on the citizens to the correctness, promising to pay to the victims of the riots businessmen. Therefore, according to Sagintaev, it incorrect to say that the security forces capitulated.
“People did not lie to the rally, people went to fight. And when tens of thousands of people attack the police, they take everything, saying that they were capitulated, I consider, incorrectly,” added the mayor.
Earlier in the press service of the President of Kazakhstan Kasima-Zhomart Tokayeva, they said that the situation in the country as a whole stabilizes, the sharp destructive manifestations is not fixed. Following the meeting, Tokaev noted the importance of continuing active work on the restoration of public order and security in the country.
Mass protests in Kazakhstan began on Sunday, January 2, due to a sharp increase in gas prices for cars from 60 to 120 tenge (from 10 to 20 rubles) per liter. Soon, the protesters put forward political requirements: the resignation of the government, holding new elections, departure from the policy of the former President Nursultan Nazarbayev.